Office of Minority Health

State Partnership Grant Program to Improve Minority Health

Grantee

Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Office of Health Equity
Boston, MA 02108-4619

Project: Proposal to build upon the infrastructure of Massachusetts Department of Public Health Office of Health Equity’s Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Infrastructure
Amount: $149,975

The Office of Health Equity was created in 1989 to address the needs of racial, ethnic and linguistic minority communities. The office also serves as a liaison to the Executive Office of Health and Human Services on issues pertaining to health disparities. Its mission is to promote the health and wellbeing of ethnic minority communities throughout the Commonwealth by increasing the Department of Public Health’s capacity to respond effectively to the critical public health needs of these communities.

Project Abstract

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health Office of Health Equity will build upon its Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) infrastructure, developed under the 2005 and 2010 Office of Minority Health State Partnership Grant Program. The proposed project, CLAS III, focuses on sustainability and evaluation. CLAS III seeks to increase health equity and reduce health disparities by informing policy and developing and promoting tools, trainings and resources. The Office of Health Equity hopes that increasing the dissemination and use of the National CLAS Standards will address the lack of cultural competence and sensitivity among health and health care professionals that has been associated with the perpetuation of health disparities.

In Massachusetts, key racial and ethnic disparities exist in health care coverage and access, asthma rates, H1N1 vaccination, mortality, overweight/obesity and the health services workforce. In order to reduce these disparities, the Office of Health Equity will:

• Conduct CLAS trainings
• Develop a CLAS peer mentorship program for community-based programs
• Support the Immunization Equity Collaborative
• Disseminate findings from the second internal assessment survey and conduct the third internal assessment survey
• Develop policy/legislative recommendations
• Work to expand CLAS discourse to include LGBTQ people and people with disabilities

Expected outcomes include:

• Increased CLAS knowledge
• Increased application of CLAS-related policy
• Increased number of minorities vaccinated for flu
• Enhanced coordination among the state public health office and community-based vendor systems to improve minority health and contribute to the elimination of health disparities
• Enhanced capacity for sustained strategic planning and coordination of CLAS implementation across the Department of Public Health through internal collaborations

Process and outcomes measures will be collected throughout the grant program, including but not limited to:

• Number of contract managers trained
• Percentage of people reporting increased CLAS knowledge
• Number of partnerships developed
• Number of meetings
• Number of manuals/reports distributed
• Programs implementing CLAS-related changes

Data will be collected through evaluation forms, internal assessment surveys, key informant interviews, tracking forms and attendance forms.